


A Friend In Need

by HeartOfStars



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, James Potter is a Good Friend, Sad Sirius Black, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Sirius Black Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartOfStars/pseuds/HeartOfStars
Summary: Sixteen-year-old James Potter is having a boring summer...until, that is, his friend Sirius Black shows up, in need of assistance and friendship. AKA: the night that Sirius had had enough of his awful parents, and James invited his best friend to live with him instead.
Relationships: Sirius Black & James Potter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	A Friend In Need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CassiaBaneberry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassiaBaneberry/gifts).



> This is a scene I will write eventually, at the beginning of book six, but I thought I'd write a shorter version of it now. I tried not to spoil as much as I could; there are only vague mentions of things that had happened.  
> Enjoy! And happy birthday, Cas!!!

_ You-Know-Who Gaining Strength - “Muggleborns Not Real Wizards,” Say Top Supporters.  _

Frowning, sixteen-year-old James Potter sat hunched over the latest issue of the  _ Daily Prophet.  _ The paper was getting more outlandish, filled with articles that were probably designed to cause fear--but at least it still told the truth, which was difficult to come by these days. His parents, terrified over the war, had tried to keep James from knowing anything, afraid that if he knew he’d try to do something about it; but unbeknownst to them, his friend Peter Pettigrew was smuggling papers to him by owl. 

Now, as rain pattered the window, James began to read. 

_ The Dark Lord, leader of the anti-Muggle movement, is growing stronger by the day, according to several experts.  _

Of course. They were too scared to even say his name, weren’t they?

_ He has gathered quite the group of supporters; the most powerful are called “Death Eaters.” Their influence has spread far and wide, but so far it has not struck the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where many parents are sending their children for education.  _

Sure, thought James, thinking of Snape. 

_ Why this Dark Lord has been kept out of Hogwarts for all this time, despite his tremendous power and influence, remains a mystery. No one can understand it. Of course, there are those who say that Dumbledore is the only wizard that You-Know-Who fears, which means that the Dark Lord will not set foot into the school...but it cannot be only Dumbledore who is protecting the school. He could not do it alone.  _

James smirked. No...it was not only Dumbledore. The paper was right. Dumbledore had, in fact, four accomplices to help him(though most cases of said assistance had been by sheer accident). But unless these reporters could sneak into the school and get a hold of the map, no one would ever know. 

_ But in any case, although Hogwarts may be the only sure place that is safe from the Dark Lord, many do not expect it to remain so for long. Recently, there have been reports of a secret-- _

_ Tap-tap-tap.  _

James looked up at the sudden sharp sound, afraid that his parents had found out he was still awake...but when his door remained shut, he relaxed. 

James sighed. He loved his parents dearly-- _ deerly,  _ his friend Sirius Black would have said if they were at school--but they’d always been so  _ smothering,  _ so curious, so worried about him, that he was beginning to get a bit sick of them. Fortunately, they didn’t seem to be aware that their son had not yet gone to bed, so James returned his attention to the paper. 

_ Just the rain,  _ he told himself.  _ It’s just the rain.  _

_ TAP-TAP-TAP.  _

The sound came again, much louder this time, and this time, James was positive that it was coming from right outside his window. Mystified, and slightly frightened, he got out of bed, walked over, and opened the window. 

Immediately, he was assaulted by a solid wall of wind and rain; and he almost was tempted to use the water-repelling charm. If only he were seventeen, and could use magic outside of school. If only. One more year to go. For the moment, he had to settle for squinting through his soaked glasses, and making sure they didn’t fly off his face. 

“HELLO?” he shouted over the rain. He didn’t think there would be anybody there, but still--

“James!” someone shouted back. 

James almost jumped; there was someone trying to get into his house, and...and they knew his name. How did they know his name? Holding onto his glasses with one hand, he leaned out, trying to find the source of the voice. 

“Where are you?” he demanded. 

“Over here!” said the voice, and this time James was sure he knew it…

Quickly, he removed his glasses, wiped them, put them back on his face, and looked in the direction of--

Sirius Black. 

James was so shocked he almost fell out of the window, but somehow managed to stay firmly in place. Sirius...he almost couldn’t believe it. Was he dreaming? But no--Sirius, his best friend, was very clearly outside his window, hanging firmly onto the ledge, and he looked drenched. 

“Sirius,” James gasped. “What--”

“Just help me in, will you?” Sirius said, looking very irritated. “I’m soaked out here.” 

“Yeah, I’d imagine,” James shot back, feeling slightly irritated himself, “but you couldn’t have picked a better night to drop by, could you? I mean--”

He stopped at the look on Sirius’ face. Obviously, there was something bad going on. 

“Sorry,” he said, reaching out a hand. “Here--”

Sirius reached up and grabbed James’ hand; both their fingers were soaked, so James reached a little further, seized Sirius’ shirt sleeve, and hauled him up. Once he was on the ledge, Sirius was able to help a little better, and with a thump and several yelps, they both landed inside James’ room. 

“Thanks,” Sirius gasped. “I--I’m sorry about--”

Suddenly, someone knocked at James’ door. 

“James?”  _ His mother.  _ “James, what’s going on?”

“Mum,” James told Sirius. “Get under the bed!” 

Sirius nodded, and James acted quickly; in several seconds he’d jumped up to close the window, take off his glasses, rumple his hair so that it looked as if he’d been sleeping, and stumble towards the door. 

“Mum,” he said, squinting at her; besides the fact that without his glasses she looked like a blur, he had learned that squinting made you look exhausted. “What?”

“I just heard something,” she said. “And then you shouted. What’s going on?”

“Oh, I…” James frowned, pretending to think. “Oh, yeah, I fell out of bed.”

“You  _ fell out of bed?”  _ she echoed--that was a bad excuse. He was out of practice. “What did you do that for?”

“Crazy dream,” James said, trying to sound annoyed. “That’s all.”

“Well, all right.” Mrs. Potter smiled. “I’ll let you go back to sleep, then.” 

James forced a smile. “Thanks. See you in the morning.” 

His mother smiled once more, and slowly, James closed the door. He waited several seconds, listening; then, there was the sound of her footsteps padding back downstairs. 

In an instant, he put on his glasses and hurried back to Sirius. 

“It’s all right,” he said. “She’s gone.”

With a sigh, Sirius crawled out from under James’ bed. “That’s a relief.”

James didn’t know what to say next--it was clear that something serious was going on, because why else would Sirius Black be outside his window, in the rain? And, now that he thought about it, Sirius looked rather disheveled: his hair was a mess, there was dirt on his clothes, and he looked absolutely exhausted. Something was wrong, he wouldn’t just show up at James’ house if things weren’t really bad; but what possible reason could there be? 

“I know,” Sirius snapped before James could say anything. “I know what I look like, I know this is...well, mental--”

“What’s going on?” James demanded, careful to keep his voice down. “Why’d you show up here? You could’ve warned me, or something--”

“It’s my parents,” Sirius sighed. 

James’ eyes widened--but now that he’d heard it, he realized it wasn’t all too surprising. He’d met Sirius’ parents, and they were not very pleasant people; and beyond that, he, Remus, and Peter had heard all sorts of messed-up stories about them. The Blacks were purebloods, their history rooted in the Dark Arts; but Sirius had complained about them so much it had become a sort of running joke. Now, however, seeing Sirius here in his room, looking exhausted...weary...even frightened...he found himself getting angry at Orion and Walburga Black. 

What had they  _ done?  _

“I’m sorry,” he said earnestly. “I didn’t know--”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s got nothing to do with you.” Sirius sighed, leaning back against James’ wall. “It’s my fault, I kept thinking it would be all right...I should’ve left sooner.” 

“Left?” James frowned. “What do you mean? I mean, you’re just here for--”

Sirius shot him a look, and suddenly James realized what was going on. His friend had taken too much abuse, too many insults, and it had finally boiled over; finally, he had just refused to take it any longer. Why had he ever thought Sirius had just come for the night, to ask advice or pour out his heart? Why else would he be here in the rain? 

“You  _ ran away?”  _ James whispered. “How awful  _ are  _ things?”

“Oh, as awful as they’ve ever been,” Sirius said lightly--too lightly, James thought. “Threats, name-calling; they really like the one about me being inferior because I’m Gryffindor.” 

James almost exploded.  _ “What?  _ I swear--”

“They’ve been doing that since I got Sorted, calm down. It used to affect me, but now I just insult them back, and eventually the conversation ends. Lately, though…” Sirius clenched his hand into a fist. “The war’s heating up, Reg is never home--I’m sure he’s a Death Eater by now--and they’re trying to use that against me. Besides that, they’ve told me I’m a bad person because--” He took a deep breath, as if he were trying to calm himself down.

“It’s all right, Sirius,” James said. “Take your time.” 

“It’s  _ you!”  _ The words burst out of him, and James had to motion for him to be quiet. “It’s not bad enough for them to be anti-werewolf, they don’t even know about Remus but they throw those words around, and I have to hide my anger around them, walk away the moment they start talking. It’s not bad enough for them to say  _ that,  _ is it? They insult the three of you! They say that’s why I’m worse off than Regulus, that you’ve influenced me wrong, made me a worse person.”

James didn’t know what to say. Sirius had left not because of something his parents had said about him...not because they told him he was inferior...but because of  _ James,  _ because of Remus and Peter…

“Oh, Sirius,” he said, unable to find the words for what he was feeling. “You...you really…”

“I’ll take insults, I’ll take all the insults they can throw at me,” Sirius said fiercely. “But when they start attacking my friends, that’s where I cross the line. Because, James…you’ve all made me a better person. I doubted myself, for a while--every summer I come back to school thinking I’m a worse person, thinking maybe my parents are right...and you remind me why they’re not.” 

“They’re absolutely not right,” James said. “They’re worthless, insufferable gits is what they are. Worse than stuck-up Kingsley, worse than McGonagall in first year, worse than Sniv…” He stopped. “No. No, not worse than Snivellus.” 

For the first time that night, Sirius actually smiled. 

“You should’ve left before now,” James said. “You know that, right?”

“Well, yeah, but--” Sirius sighed. “Where was I supposed to go, James? Where  _ am  _ I supposed to go?” He shook his head, looking more hopeless than James had ever seen him...with the exception of that awful night at the end of their fourth year. “I mean, it’s not like I can stay here, is it?”

James almost agreed--he even opened his mouth to say so. 

Then, a sudden thought struck him. He’d complained about his parents before, but compared to Sirius’ parents, they were saintly. Actually, as he remembered all the times his mum had made sure he was staying safe at school, had gone out of her way to give him things he might need...when his dad had taken an interest in what James was doing, instead of talking about potions all day...he realized he really had pretty great parents. Maybe they were smothering, overwhelming, and overprotective, but that was certainly better than parents who insulted your existence day in and day out. But more than that, his parents...they’d met Sirius before, they liked him, they’d mentioned how thin he looked--and best of all, they had no love for Orion and Walburga Black. 

It was a crazy idea. It was definitely crazy--never in a million years had James thought Sirius might come to live with him, though he had always  _ wished  _ it might happen. But compared to all the other crazy ideas he and Sirius--and Remus and Peter--had come up with in their time, it seemed almost normal. 

“Why not?” he said. “Why not stay here?”

Sirius’ jaw dropped. 

“You can’t be serious,” he said. “I can’t stay with you! Your parents won’t like it, this isn’t my family--”

“Well, we’re as good as,” said James. “My parents love you, are you kidding? And I’ve heard my mum talk about how much she wants to hex yours loads of times.” 

“Well...I dunno.” Sirius looked away. “It’s not right, I mean…”

“There’s nothing  _ wrong  _ with it. Trust me, your parents are horrible, Sirius.” 

“Yeah,” Sirius admitted. “They are. This whole conversation sort of proves it.” 

“So why not?” James shrugged. “You’re my friend, Sirius, and...well, if I can’t personally punch your parents in the face, it’s the least I can do for you.” 

Sirius grinned ruefully. “You know, I’d love to see that happen.” 

“I’d love to do it,” James said dreamily. “Unfortunately, it’s right up there with things that I can only hope for: being a Prefect, a relationship between me and Lily, Snivellus’ untimely death--”

Sirius laughed. 

“Point is, you’re my friend.” James held out a hand. “What d’you say, Padfoot? Want to come and live with me for a few months?” 

Sirius drew in a deep breath, as though he were considering...and then finally he sighed and took James’ hand, as if they were making a business arrangement. 

“Sure thing, Prongs,” he said. “Just as long as I don’t have to eat table scraps...like a dog.” He winked. “Get it, James? A  _ dog, _ get it? A--”

James groaned. “What have I done?”


End file.
